😀 except it wasn’t designed by Sutter’s son…

It was a competition for Kindergarten kids to design a livery.

I think he said he couldn’t get a flight to Seville, so was flying to Malaga instead, so no joy there 🙁

9 days to go, and the first 3’000 of the largest mass migration in Football history have already arrived in Seville from Glasgow, acording to the Herald.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/13-5-19103-0-18-16.html No mention of what aircraft was used to fly them over, though.

PS, Ren… gonnae get Chick to use the third bottom phrase at some stage from the technical area during the game? 😉

BAA’s consultation papers are certainly big on the agenda today… This was in today’s Evening Times…

It doesn’t add up Mr Darling

by David Leask
Chief Reporter

A NEW report has shattered Government claims it would cost more to expand Glasgow Airport than its rival Edinburgh.

It reveals civil servants underestimated the cost of making Edinburgh Airport Scotland’s national hub by £400million.

The study, by the company which runs both airports, said the real costs would be £1.1billion for Glasgow and £1.3bn for Edinburgh.

The figures make a mockery of claims from Whitehall and Holyrood officials that developing Glasgow was a financial non-starter.

And they leave in tatters the credibility of Government aviation officials who backed Edinburgh Airport as the national hub.

Detailed evidence published today by BAA Scottish Airports shows it would cost £200m less to expand Glasgow than Edinburgh.

Just last year officials from the Scottish Executive and the UK Department for Transport wrote off plans to build a new runway at Glasgow as financially unsound.

In a major consultation document on the future of Scottish air travel, they said expanding Edinburgh only would make financial sense.

The paper, published in July, kicked off a battle between Glasgow and Edinburgh for the right to become Scotland’s hub – a major airport promising worldwide flights, tens of millions of pounds in new investment and thousands of new jobs.

UK Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said he believed Scotland needed to develop one of the airports.

Mr Darling, an Edinburgh MP, stressed he had an open mind on whether it should be Glasgow or Edinburgh.

His officials said it would cost £1.3bn to upgrade Glasgow to a new international hub, with a new runway and terminal.

But they calculated they could give Edinburgh the same treatment for just £900m.

Today BAA dismissed those figures.

In its official response to the original consultation paper, it said Glasgow’s costs had been exaggerated and Edinburgh’s underestimated.

The real figures, it said, were £1.1bn for Glasgow and £1.3bn for Edinburgh.

They come as a major vindication for Glasgow campaigners, led by City Council leader Charles Gordon, tourism chief Eddie Friel and Chamber of Commerce chief Duncan Tannahill.

They challenged the official forecasts, with the help of the Fraser of Allander Institute.

And the Evening Times last year revealed Mr Darling’s officials had forgotten to count the £10m cost of a new control tower at Edinburgh and had claimed land prices were four times higher in Glasgow than in Edinburgh.

Today’s BAA report says it will cost £110m to buy land to expand Edinburgh Airport, against a Government estimate of just £18m.

BAA has long warned Mr Darling not to rush any decision. The company’s Scots chief, Donal Dowds, has said land should be set aside at both airports for expansion.

He said today: “It is in Scotland’s long-term environmental and economic interests the right decisions are made for the right reasons.”

Glasgow Airport boss Stephen Baxter said: “This submission by BAA, and the clear points we have made to the Government, reflect this company’s commitment to Glasgow Airport.”

Airport insiders said the officials behind the original figures were pro-Edinburgh “zealots” – but they warned Glasgow still had a hard battle ahead.

In March, Iain Gray, the former Scottish Transport Secretary, gave the go-ahead to a top class railway to link Edinburgh Airport to all of Scotland’s main cities, including Glasgow.

But Mr Gray, who lost his Edinburgh Pentlands seat in this month’s election, was only prepared to spend a fraction as much on a second-rate rail link for Glasgow Airport.

Mr Darling will close the consultation at the end of next month and make a decision on the future shape of British aviation late in the autumn.

A spokesman for Mr Darling said: “We stand by the figures we published last year. If BAA has done further work in the last nine months and thinks its figures are better then that is something ministers will consider. That is the point of having a consultation.”

John Robertson, MP for Glasgow Anniesland, said: “We have known the figures were wrong for some time.

“Our feeling has always been there has been a bias towards Edinburgh because of the Scottish Parliament. These figures do not include the massive cost of Edinburgh Airport’s rail link, which must surely be another argument in Glasgow’s favour.”

A spokesman for Charles Gordon, Glasgow City Council leader, said: “The council and its partners made clear an economic case for the growth of Glasgow Airport. Now BAA seems to have found common ground with that case.”

City tourist boss Eddie Friel said: “We said the Government figures were nonsense from Day One. Now BAA has backed that up.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said it was too early to discuss detailed differences between the BAA and Government figures.

She said: “All submissions will be considered, but it is worth bearing in mind the plans BAA has come up with for a terminal at Glasgow are different from those in the consultation paper.”

Originally posted by Ren Frew
So did Sir Freddie ever get a plane named after him ?

Yes, 747-123, G-VMIA, Spirit of Sir Freddie, although she was retired 3 years ago.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/062808/L/

Re: Britannia for Celtic flights

Originally posted by EGNM
wonder if Astraeus will be flying you??? :rolleyes:

Only as far as Cardiff…

Original estimates were for 50’000 Celtic fans converging on Seville, so I dare say there’s a fair few planes involved in transporting them, although, the last figure I heard was more like 100’000… (despite the ground’s capacity being only 52’000, and 16’000 tickets going to Portuguese fans).

That’ll teach UEFA to award Euro 2008 to Austria/Switzerland because there wasn’t enough passion for football in Scotland…

Anyway, I have been looking at options of getting down myself, but the size of Seville Airport isn’t helping, the only avaliable flight on the day is AF from Orly, but for some reason I can’t actually get a flight back, so it’s not on… having said that, I might try and meet up with a mate who’s driving down for the game, with what must be the weirdest route possible… Glasgow-Stranraer-(ferry)-Belfast-Waterford-(ferry)-Cherbourg-Bordeaux-Lisbon-Seville. But getting from BSL to Bordeaux isn’t that easy, either… I’d need to change in either Clermont Ferrand or Marseille, which is just getting to much hastle, so it looks like it’s just the big screen for me.. oh well,

tell all the *ahem* Bears *ahem* you know,
we’re still spending the Euro an’ they’re no’,
they’ll be watching the Bill, while we win in Seville,
it’s gonna be three in a r-o-o-o-w

If you’re really desperate to fly the 146, BA are operating them thrice daily (on weekdays) GLA-LCY, and once on Sundays. (no Saturday service).

Or LX to Zurich? (although some of those services are operated by Saab 2000’s.

What do LH operate out of LCY? Talking of whom, their Junkers Ju-52 will be visiting LCY offering sightseeing trips (can’t remember the exact date, though), to promote their new routes to LCY since the summer timetable came into effect.

so is this strike just affecting French flights, or is overflying France a bit of a nono, too?

hold on, I can’t think how to put this into words…

cette grève, ça concerne uniquement les Aéroports, ou ça concerne toute l’espace aérienne Française?

I’m just thinking if it does strike overflying, BSL is in one hell of a bad position…